Rare earth element identification and quantification in millimetre-sized Ryugu rock fragments from the Hayabusa2 space mission.

ABSTRACT: Millimetre-sized primordial rock fragments originating from asteroid Ryugu were investigated using high energy X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy, providing 2D and 3D elemental distribution and quantitative composition information on the microscopic level. Samples were collected in two phases from two sites on asteroid Ryugu and safely returned to Earth by JAXA's asteroid explorer Hayabusa2, during which time the collected material was stored and maintained free from terrestrial influences, including exposure to Earth's atmosphere. Several grains of interest were identified and further characterised to obtain quantitative information on the rare earth element (REE) content within said grains, following a reference-based and computed-tomography-assisted fundamental parameters quantification ap

SUBMITTER: Tack P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9516535 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature